This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Acute diarrhea hindered growth in Gambian children aged younger than 5 years
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
2011 ASTMH
PHILADELPHIA — Children aged younger than 5 years failed to regain their growth compared with their peers after acute diarrhea, according to findings presented during the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 60th Annual Meeting.
In a case-control study conducted in the Republic of The Gambia in West Africa, Debasish Saha, PhD, and colleagues measured the anthropometric indices of children aged younger than 5 years presenting with signs of moderate to severe diarrhea. Age- and sex-matched controls were enrolled from the community within a demographic surveillance system. Case-patients and controls were then followed up at 60 to 90 days and 18 to 24 months after the enrollment. Nutritional assessment was based on WHO z scoring system.
“Malnutrition is a major problem in the developing world, and acute infection tends to worsen it for some time,” Saha told Infectious Disease News. “In the real world, physicians are more concerned in treating the infections and seldom give advice on the importance of continuing appropriate feeding — integrated management of diarrheal disease or any childhood infection should include nutritional management as well.”
Researchers enrolled 854 case-patients and 1,161 controls from 263 villages during the 2 years of the study. According to the weight-for-age z score (WAZ), the case-patients were more severely malnourished (P,.001) compared with controls (for all children, OR=3.59; 95% CI, 2.65-4.88; for children aged 0-11 months, OR=1.98; 95% CI, 1.21-3.26; for children aged 12-23 months, OR=3.54; 95% CI, 2.18-5.78); for children aged 24-59 months, OR=11.59; 95% CI, 5.39-25.59).
A comparable trend was observed on the weight-for-height/length z score (WHZ). On height/length z score (HAZ), only the 24- to 59-month age group of case-patients were significantly different to controls (OR=2.84; 95% CI, 1.42-5.68). On 60- to 90-day follow-up, a higher proportion of case-patients remained severely malnourished on WAZ, HAZ and WHZ scale, whereas a significant difference was observed in WAZ and HAZ in the older age strata (WAZ OR=2.68; 95% CI, 1.17-6.16; HAZ OR=4.37; 95% CI, 2.03-9.52).
A nutritional rehabilitation after an acute episode of diarrhea is highly recommended, and these cohorts should be followed up until preschool age to understand the long-term growth faltering and their consequences in this population, the researchers said.
Disclosure: Dr. Saha reported no relevant financial disclosures.
For more information:
 |
Follow InfectiousDiseaseNews.com on Twitter. |